The Punjab police on Saturday said they had arrested the second and main perpetrator of the Nirankari Satsang Bhawan grenade attack in Amritsar’s Adliwal village. The blast had claimed three lives and left 16 injured.
The main perpetrator was identified as 32-year-old Avtar Singh.
Director General of Police Suresh Arora said Avtar’s links have been traced to Harmeet Singh Happy, the self-styled chief of ISI-backed Khalistan Liberation Force, based in Pakistan.
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“Happy alias Ph.D has emerged as the most active leader of Punjab based outfits working under the watch and directions of the Pak ISI, which was determined to spread terrorism in the border State of Punjab by radicalising poor and gullible youth of the State and motivating them to carry out terrorist actions,” said Mr, Arora.
Mr. Arora said the leads provided by Bikramjit Singh (the other accused arrested by police) led the police to arrest Avtar Singh from Khiala village in Lopoke, from the tube well motor shed of his uncle, Trilok Singh, early this morning.
“Both the pistols which the perpetrators were carrying on the day of attack have been recovered on the disclosures of Avtar. The weapons recovered include two pistols (.32 bore), one of them U.S. made, four magazines and 25 live rounds,” said the DGP, adding that the recovery followed the arrest of one Shabnamdeep from Patiala.
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Mr. Arora said initial investigations had revealed that Avtar was contacted on WhatsApp, a few months ago, by one Javed, who claimed to be a Pakistani national (PIO) from Dubai. “The so-called Pakistani national, who spoke in Punjabi, first contacted him, on the basis of a reference, in the garb of seeking consultation for his back problem. Thereafter, he started to discuss Sikh issues with him,